Man on the Moon: a day in the life of Bob

Product Information

I really loved that Chaikin covered the entire Apollo age with an eye towards balance: the details and eccentricities of each particular mission are always held up to the overarching narrative of the Apollo program as a whole, which is super important because each flight builds on the ones that came before it. So, at the end, I feel like I've got a much better understanding of spaceflight history. The chapters on missions like 8, 11, and 13 are obviously longer and more in depth, but I was especially surprised how fascinating the more science focused later missions were!

I am not a believer in the conspiracy theory of the moon landings. There were just too many people involved, and that many people simply can't be counted upon to keep their mouths shut for all these years. Chaikin collaborated with moonwalker-turned-artist Alan Bean to write Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, published in 1998 by the Greenwich Workshop Press. He also co-edited The New Solar System, a compendium of writings by planetary scientists, now in its fourth edition. His essays include the chapter on human spaceflight in The National Geographic Encyclopedia of Space, published in 2004, and Live from the Moon: The Societal Impact of Apollo for NASA’s 2007 book The Societal Impact of Spaceflight. The First Men in the Moon is a scientific romance, originally serialised in The Strand Magazine and The Cosmopolitan from November 1900 to June 1901 and published in hardcover in 1901, [2] by the English author H. G. Wells, who called it one of his "fantastic stories". [3] The novel tells the story of a journey to the Moon undertaken by the two protagonists: a businessman narrator, Mr. Bedford; and an eccentric scientist, Mr. Cavor. Bedford and Cavor discover that the Moon is inhabited by a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilisation of insect-like creatures they call "Selenites". The inspiration seems to come from the famous 1865 book by Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, and the opera by Jacques Offenbach from 1875. Verne's novel also uses the word "Selenites" to describe inhabitants of the Moon . [4] Plot summary [ edit ] Frontispiece illustration Apollo 10,commanded by Tom Stafford went all the way to the moon,without landing,as a dress rehearsal for the mission of Apollo 11. The second adaptation was made in 1964. In this version, the men wear diving suits as spacesuits, which they do not do in the original novel. [ citation needed]Today, at the NASA space centers in Houston and Florida, the Saturn Vs for Apollo 18 and 19 [both missions canceled] lie on tourist stands, like unfinished obelisks, reminders of a time that seems now as remote as the moon itself. Across the distance of a [half] century, Apollo is an anomaly. There was a rare confluence of historical forces in 1961: A perceived threat to national prestige from the Soviet Union was met by a dynamic leader, John Kennedy, and economic prosperity allowed him to launch a massive effort to demonstrate America’s capabilities. The moon was the ideal target – close enough to reach, audacious enough to capture the imagination. A substance similar to cavorite (called gravitar) is used in Space: 1889& Beyond, which also features a character called Rear Admiral Herbert Cavor and the indigenous population of Luna are called Selenites (the name being derived from the same source material mentioned in The First Men in the Moon). This series also features a character called Commander George Bedford. According to author Andy Frankham-Allen (who also developed the series) this was all a very intentional reference to the works of H. G. Wells, with the main protagonist, Professor Nathanial Stone, a direct reference to Parson Nathaniel from Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds; Nathanial Stone's father is a reverend. Cavorite is present in James A. Owen's Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica book series, in which it is described as an incredibly powerful material used in the creation of the Keep of Time and the Zanzibar Gate. It has relatively little relation to the material in The First Men in the Moon. Isaac absolutely loved Man on the Moon. The illustrations in this book are wonderful and they captured my son’s imagination. We spent ages spotting the aliens in the pictures and trying to deciding which alien was our favourite." What a personally powerful book. A Man on the Moon is such a wonderful reminder of what we are capable of as a species and what wonderful things we can accomplish when we work together. I hope to see a man on the moon in my lifetime, although I doubt it will happen, which is a shame.

Indeed, the most appealing aspect of A Man on the Moon is how Chaikin puts a face on the missions and men that are far from famous, from the other astronauts to the mission controllers and even those people involved in the design and manufacture of the space crafts. As mentioned, this book gives me almost unlimited ideas of ways it could be used with a KS1 class across the curriculum, not just an English, so I think it could be a really affective text with the right class. Squeezing in one more, this time a space-going hero that we have loved right from the very start of this blog...!My audiobook was 23 hours long, and I don’t recommend it. The narrator, actor Bronson Pinchot, has won several Audie Awards, one of them for this book. I find this a little surprising. For me it was an extremely dull experience to listen to him. The only time I remember hearing some excitement in his voice was when the matter of urinating in space came up. Incidentally a thing I got excited about as well. I guess observed from afar those kinds of experiences are just too damn funny. The video game Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne was based both on Wells's The First Men in the Moon, along with Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. Thank you Lovemybooks for such a brilliant recommendation and such imaginative and inspiring activities. I really think it’s such a brilliant resource for parents and teachers!"Things to make and do Stableford, Brian (1993). "Dystopias". In John Clute; Peter Nicholls (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2nded.). Orbit, London. pp.360–362. ISBN 1-85723-124-4.

The story is told in third person which allows the reader to feel that they are following Bob closely, allowing them to warm to the character, making him likeable. The story is set in the style of “a day in the life” and uses time to show this. This technique makes it easy for children to follow as it allows them to relate it to their day to day life, such as getting up and having breakfast and having a bath before going to bed. Stark, Sonja (18 January 2010). "The First Men in the Moon in 3-D". Times Union. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011 . Retrieved 13 February 2010.Chapter 20, "Mr. Bedford in Infinite Space", plays no role in the plot but is a remarkable set piece in which the narrator describes experiencing a quasi-mystical "pervading doubt of my own identity. . . the doubts within me could still argue: 'It is not you that is reading, it is Bedford—but you are not Bedford, you know. That's just where the mistake comes in.' 'Counfound it!' I cried, 'and if I am not Bedford, what am I? But in that direction no light was forthcoming, though the strangest fancies came drifting into my brain, queer remote suspicions like shadow seem from far away... Do you know I had an idea that really I was something quite outside not only the world, but all worlds, and out of space and time, and that this poor Bedford was just a peephole through which I looked at life..." [9]